Instinct vs Logic

I have a problem with logic; yeah go ahead and make snide remarks about women and logic! But hope you will hear me out.

If you speak of instinct well then now you are talking and I am a firm believer of this little niggler which watches out for most of us. Where logic is concerned, I tend to treat it more like I would my child. Let me explain.......instinct to me is more me more something that was born with me so it is more a part of me that I can trust and rely on. But logic is a different matter altogether. It reeks of potential in the future and as a woman I would say that it is to me the same as the potential to bear a child.

Women and instinct and I think - Calpurnia. Have not done much Shakespeare, so I hope I got it right.

Logic - yes at workplace

Loads of people I have met who keep referring to logic to disrupt proceedings

Many a time logic stops you from actually listening to a person and assimilating the information he/she is providing. Instead you are listening to the conversation that is going on in your head with yourself. Which is fine if you are at the workplace and at your workstation when it is important for you to challenge yourself in order to ensure that the project/report/paper or whatever it is you are working on meets the deadline......

But when you are having a dialogue with another person, a physical entity, then surely it is disrespectful to say the least if one does not listen to the other's point of view.
...................................................................................

I found this draft while looking through my blog. This was dated last August so I am not even sure if I wrote it. But hey I second these thoughts and this was in my draft list, so what the hell.....

In case you who is reading this at this point is the one who wrote it, then by all means take credit love.....

If it is indeed I who wrote it then I am darned sure that I had more to add but as my fingers pummel the keys into words, I have no idea what it was that I wanted to say. But I hope what is said would suffice and that it says it all......

An Anonymous Poem

This little piece is again courtesy Aarzoo's school and Padma Aunty, the administrator. I loved it and had to share it. The lines are few but say a lot more than tomes on pedagogy in a library. I am not going to spoil it with my commentary save to say that it works.........

I tried to teach my child with books
He gave me only puzzled looks.
I tried to teach my child with words
They passed him by often unheard.
Despairingly, I turned aside,
"How shall I teach this child?" I cried
Into my hand, he put the key,
"Come," he said, "play with me".

AGM

Circa 2005......I attended my first ever annual general meeting at Human Rights Law Network [HRLN] where I worked in the Disability Rights Initiative [DRI]. Post the AGM, Sujata my colleague who is with "Combat Law" (www.combatlaw.org) the bi-monthly human rights magazine that is an integral part of HRLN, asked me to write a report on the meeting. My first instinct was to say no and I should have considering the tall order she gave next.......to put into a paragraph, max a page, the proceedings of the four days of meeting!!!!

I was going through my files and chanced upon the report that I finally managed to put together for Sujata. She was really kind in her praise and put it up in our in-house newsletter. I have made a few edits and thought it a good idea to enter it in my blog. Hope I receive more bouquets than brick-bats!!!!!!

HRLN - Annual General Meeting, October 2005 - GOA

Large organizations can often make an individual feel very insignificant in the larger scheme of things. At one end a “doing something for the sake of doing it” and “have to earn buddy” kind of attitude can set in that can send everything into a downward spiral. “What I do and I” are important to the exclusion of everything else is at the other end of the spectrum. And, of course, there is lots else that lie in between. But a four-day organization review meeting seemed a most unlikely strategy to rejuvenate the cadres, especially during the holiday season! Management gurus please go back to school.

Speaking for myself, it was a very grumpy, sleepy zombie that arrived in 'paradiso' Goa. But as the moments ticked by (a little too fast during some sessions; very slow in others) one could barely stop oneself from jumping right in and taking ownership at the macro-level. Just could not help it! Meeting colleagues from across the country; some old friends, some voices transformed to faces and sharing the same roof with some strangers for a major part of the day. The presentations of each initiative, the explosive intensity and the drama during discussions; the anger and the frustrations, the laughter and ribbing that followed the goofiness of co-workers, all came tumbling out. The slave driving was expected but then there were a couple of time offs for a walk on the beach long after sun down, a rain soaked cruise, some wine, some beer, some shopping and some dancing! Hey there was some singing during the sessions as well!!

The insignificance I then realized was after all only in relation to the larger scheme of things; things that belonged in the realm of philosophy and high brow intellectualism and not in the harsh realities faced by the millions of individuals across the nation. Further realization that a Network is a support system, a strength in numbers which lies in the spirit, grit and determination of its members. And, each member, is an important and integral part of what has gone into and continuously contributes to the relentless evolution of the organization from a mere idea to a major factor in the Human Rights movement in the country. Is this the secret formula for “conversions”? Anyway, I was transformed from the grumpy, sleepy zombie to a rejuvenated individual who came away from Goa, raring to go!

Yours sincerely,

Sitting Duck for Management Gurus

Take a bow

P.S. : Visit www.hrln.org for more information on the organization